I'll be DMing the first "real" Eberron campaign I play, but I'm playing in a little PBP thing over at the WotC boards soon. Here's the character description for Topher Vinson (LG male human ranger 1/cleric 1 Sovereign Host). He's something of a combination of real-world theologists I've known, myself, and Robert Langdon (the protagonist of Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code).
Topher Vinson
Topher was born twenty-six years ago under the sign of Bahamut in the humble Aundarian town of Ghalt. Growing up, he worked in his parents’ wine fields, eagerly consumed books of Galifar history, and sometimes traveled miles to hunt in the forest lying between Ghalt and Arcanix. While he came of age during the Last War and was eager to join the forces defending Aundair’s southern border, Topher’s parents kept him out of the fighting. They sent him to study at the University of Wynarn in Fairhaven, where he focused his attention on ancient history and theology.
The Vinsons have always paid tribute to the Sovereign Host, often praying to Kol Korran and Arawai, but Topher possesses a deeper religion conviction than his parents. He sees the role of the sovereigns as a divine family to be an instructive metaphor for the quarreling common races. Boldrei and Aureon, Topher suggests, teach us that the principles of community, cooperation, and enlightenment are crucial to prosperity. In the aftermath of the Last War, it’s more important than ever for the nations of Khorvaire to learn how to work together, to avoid the selfishness and arrogance that cast the Dark Six out of the Sovereign Host. Topher believes that knowledge leads to understanding, and mutual understanding is the only way to prevent another war from erupting.
To this end, Topher has made it his life’s purpose to study the shared history of the common races, particularly the history of religious beliefs that have traditionally unified Khorvaire’s races. After graduating from university, he has made a career of leading archaelogical expeditions sponsored by the church of the Sovereign Host. So far, he has not ventured further than the ruins within Aundair, Zilargo and Breland, but he is eager to explore the ancient structures in Darguun and Xen’drik.
On Topher’s last expedition, something miraculous happened. Attacked by serpents who had made a home in the Dhakaani temple he was exploring, Topher desperately called to the sovereigns for aid. They answered him with a gift of divine magic, and he was able to escape with his life. Since then, the Sovereign Host has continued to answer his prayers, prompting the church to immediately instate him as a member of the clergy. While he gladly serves the church, he’s most at home in massive libraries and crumbling ruins, where he searches for the lost scriptures that he hopes will inspire the people of Khorvaire to take faith in the Sovereign Host and turn away from war.
